FUBAR
Footballguy
Seems like something that makes more sense to do while you're workin. You'll probably have more time in retirement to do routine maintenance.
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Retirement.....what are you gonna do? (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter eoMMan
- Start date
msommer
Footballguy
I guess I don't subscribe to the dentist school of "retire early even if you have to live uncomfortably"
NutterButter
Footballguy
With a messy wife and 2 young kids, it would be just throwing money down the drain. The house is a constant mess. I'd rather invest that money and use the earnings to hire a cleaning lady when I retire and I have a house all to myself.
Binky The Doormat
Footballguy
57. I haven't tried to re-enter the workplace, not really interested in pursuing anything outside of the opportunity I mentioned. If that doesn't work out then it wasn't meant to be and I will close that chapter of my life and focus on golf, exercise and family.
FUBAR
Footballguy
Understood. disagree, but understood.
Ours cleans once a month for $100. Well worth it with the wife volunteering in the schools and 4 kids. They do the easy cleaning, I'll help some but mostly take care of the lawn. Having them do chores helps but the cleaning ladies do the deep cleaning.
I won't pay for someone to do my lawn. Unless it's my sons or a neighbor kid who needs money.
FUBAR
Footballguy
Nope. Few do. We're comfortable but enjoy ourselves reasonably. No Caribbean cruises and we've only done Disneyonce. but we rent a beach house one week a year.
jamny
Footballguy
Great point. We've been fortunate to be able to travel a lot over the past 20+ years and have seen nearly everything we really want to see. We could never picture doing a lot of them when we're in our 60's. So much driving and walking. Do it while you're relatively young if you can! Once we retire, we'll do less travelling but the trips we do will be less sight seeing and more relaxing. I've taken up painting the past couple of years and intend to learn more from here on out. Two other things I'd like to do in my small farm in the Midwest is learn the piano and get a really nice telescope. And if I do end up in Wyoming I'm going to take up fly fishing.comfortably numb said:
jamny
Footballguy
That really is our dream too. In a couple of years we hope to do a month in Italy. That will go a long way in our decision making.
Dentist
***Official FBG Dentist***
I'm not talking about in a wooden shed in the middle of the rain forest and hunting and gathering your own food...
I'm talking about mowing your lawn or spending a little time cleaning your home, or your car, or doing some basic maintenance around the house.
If that's uncomfortable, then I'm not sure what type of life you're accustomed to.
Maybe many people would already consider the way I live "uncomfortable" I mow, clean parts of the house, cook occasionally, fix many basic things in my own home or automobile (I almost always hire out the big stuff.. and heck i don't even change my own oil), I handle all the bills, manage all the money, plan my own vacations, etc... I guess I really don't find any of this "uncomfortable"
Maybe this should be an entire thread topic... how much of your life is out-sourced vs. DIY. I already feel like i'm pretty soft with all the stuff i out-source, but it sounds like maybe i do actually more than the average person.
If I really wanted to live uncomfortably, I could probably quit in 8-10 years. As it stands I'm fine with slugging it out until 55-56 at which as long as I'm not dying I should be in for a long run of having a ton of great life experiences while still doing some "uncomfortable" stuff.
NutterButter
Footballguy
I think everyone has things they do and don't like doing. Scrubbing a shower to me is the absolute suck. I'd rather work an extra year than not be able to pony up a grand a year to have someone come in every few weeks to do cleaning like that. Cutting the grass on the other hand or changing the oil is a piece of cake for me now. It will be that much easier when I have a bunch of time to spare. I'll never not hate scrubbing a shower.
Random
Footballguy
Yikes! $100 for one cleaning a month?!
I also prefer to DIY most of the simpler things. A lot of our neighbors use a cleaning lady. We called her once to come over and do our house. After we had to do all the picking up and surface stuff, she cleaned. I found it very poor value (not to be confused with poor cleaning), we just didn't feel it was worth it.
Also, I hate recurring expenses. Especially unnecessary ones.
I'm 98% do it myself. I can't imagine hiring someone to do things inside the house. I have to be there anyway so it's still waisting my time. Plus I like taking care of myself, except scrubbing the bathroom, that's woman's work.
Brony
Footballguy
I pay for housecleaning and lawn service. I don't sweat the lawn service - my time is more valuable to me than what I pay them. I don't mind the cleaning service so much either, but my wife doesn't work and it's just a reminder that my retirement is delayed by every day she's not working.
E-Z Glider
Footballguy
Why cant your wife clean if she isnt working? Hell, Id send her out to do the yardwork too.
Brony
Footballguy
Dentist
***Official FBG Dentist***
Wife doesn't work AND you pay cleaning service? Now that's a bad beat.
My wife also doesn't work, which delays my retirement, but I guess we all just choose whatever we value, and her taking care of the kid (soon to be kids) is of high value to me.
I guess to some people not mowing their lawn is more valuable than retirement, and maybe that's ok
Brony
Footballguy
I don't overanalyze the days to retirement. I live well within my means, I like the work I do so there's no use X'ing out days on the calendar. I don't view retirement as the day that my life suddenly gets awesome, but I do save a good chunk of money per year, so hopefully the flexiblity to retire early exists if work ever starts to suck.
NutterButter
Footballguy
Scrubbing the shower, cleaning the floors, dusting in the non-obvious places like on light fixtures and on ceiling fans, cleaning the grease residue that builds up on the microwave and cabinets above the microwave. Basically not the day to day stuff but the things that should be done less frequently that I just don't like doing.
msommer
Footballguy
moleculo
Footballguy
I am as much of a DIY guy as you will ever find. I fix my cars, I build my things, I repair my own appliances, hell, I brew my own beer and design/build my own brewing equipment. I love DIY. I once built a deck in my back yard because I didn't want to pay someone else to come into my back yard, enjoy my trees, breathe my fresh air and soak up my sunlight. To me, burning a weeks vacation to build a deck in my back yard was well worth it.
My rant against cutting the lawn is more about the suburban lifestyle than physical labor. My goal is to spend retirement outside of suburbia. Once the kids are gone, I want to sell my 5 bedroom house in a great school district and move into a small cabin in the mountains. I would enjoy having a small farm even - chickens, maybe a goat and a pig. I think that would be a lot of fun (and a hell of a lot of work). Or, move into a small condo uptown - easy access to all the stuff that happens there. either way - I don't want to live somewhere with a lawn.
My rant against cutting the lawn is more about the suburban lifestyle than physical labor. My goal is to spend retirement outside of suburbia. Once the kids are gone, I want to sell my 5 bedroom house in a great school district and move into a small cabin in the mountains. I would enjoy having a small farm even - chickens, maybe a goat and a pig. I think that would be a lot of fun (and a hell of a lot of work). Or, move into a small condo uptown - easy access to all the stuff that happens there. either way - I don't want to live somewhere with a lawn.
roadkill1292
Footballguy
The most difficult thing I want to do in retirement is tend to my soon-to-be-legal plants.
NutterButter
Footballguy
I hate gardening, but I really did enjoy growing. It was really cool to see the buds coming in. I look forward to doing that again some day.
I am in the midst of an 8-month sabbatical from my teaching position. We earn one after 18 years of service and we don't have to study or write. It's been a great taste of retirement in my mid-40s. We escaped the Northeast to spend the winter in Vero Beach, Florida. We are back home now after a fantastic 4 months: doing some chores around the house (we bought a rental years ago and lived in it this winter), painting and some minor repairs, and yes cutting the grass. But the key (as someone else mentioned) is that on any particular day, if I felt like doing work then I'd do it. And if I wasn't in the mood, well there is always tomorrow.
So anyway, usually get a couple hours of chores done in the morning and then we love eating breakfast out. Around noon we might head to the beach, possibly on our bikes, and hang out for a few hours. Home for a shower and spend some time hunting good happy hours or early-bird specials. We met a lot of interesting folks out and about, and we would tip each other off when some interesting event was coming to town: craft beer fests, farmers markets, good local bands, art crawls. It was great to not plan much and just sort of surrender to the flow. We also did some bigger, planned trips like to Miami twice (Phish for New Years!), Orlando twice, last minute cruise to Cozumel on the cheap, manatee and dolphin tours, visiting friends and relatives in the area.
My takeaways: if you are in a vibrant, active town then you don't need to plan tons of activities. Stuff just sort of emerges. Time is a weird thing--we often forgot what day it was, what season it was. It was kind of cool. And you can do a lot with not a lot of money. Sure if you want to golf a ton (which is one thing we actually did not get around to, believe it or not), or travel a lot, then you will need some bank. But again in an active town, a lot of activities just seem to happen. Now that I've sowed those oats, I am ready for the second half of my career. Looking forward to getting back to work (believe it or not) and also really looking forward to retirement in a couple decades.
So anyway, usually get a couple hours of chores done in the morning and then we love eating breakfast out. Around noon we might head to the beach, possibly on our bikes, and hang out for a few hours. Home for a shower and spend some time hunting good happy hours or early-bird specials. We met a lot of interesting folks out and about, and we would tip each other off when some interesting event was coming to town: craft beer fests, farmers markets, good local bands, art crawls. It was great to not plan much and just sort of surrender to the flow. We also did some bigger, planned trips like to Miami twice (Phish for New Years!), Orlando twice, last minute cruise to Cozumel on the cheap, manatee and dolphin tours, visiting friends and relatives in the area.
My takeaways: if you are in a vibrant, active town then you don't need to plan tons of activities. Stuff just sort of emerges. Time is a weird thing--we often forgot what day it was, what season it was. It was kind of cool. And you can do a lot with not a lot of money. Sure if you want to golf a ton (which is one thing we actually did not get around to, believe it or not), or travel a lot, then you will need some bank. But again in an active town, a lot of activities just seem to happen. Now that I've sowed those oats, I am ready for the second half of my career. Looking forward to getting back to work (believe it or not) and also really looking forward to retirement in a couple decades.
Brony
Footballguy
When we lived in the city, I was itching to get a bigger house and patio. Now that I have it, I could see myself living without it and going back to the city. It's not so much for the upkeep or space, we just like being able to walk to everything. I'd love to sell our house now and have half of that go to city condo and the other half to a warm weather locale for the winter.
James Daulton
Footballguy
WTF? You're having another kid? Wife, two kids, you better not plan on retiring for another 20 years or so.
Oh, and congrats on the upcoming kid!
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Sand
Footballguy
Dentist
***Official FBG Dentist***
thanks. 18.5 years and i should be ready to quit.
obviously staying single would've been the shark play to retire at 45 though.
Balco
Footballguy
Bob Sacamano
Footballguy
I read something a few weeks ago that suggested adjusting to around 3% with yields where they've been.
IC FBGCav
Footballguy
Balco
Footballguy
That will set me back a bit. I think my biggest fear of retiring early is whether my nest egg will run out. Was really hoping to retire around 48-50.
Dentist
***Official FBG Dentist***
i'm not sure how old you are, but that will be below the poverty line in 25 years, but i agree it seems like a fine total for the next 8-10. 50k isn't going to get you anything terribly extravagant, but more than enjoyable especially if you are carrying no debt, are in reasonably decent health, and don't have any other odd expenditures on the horizon (weddings, etc.)
xulf
Footballguy
How many years down the road are you looking? $50,000 for my retirement, in 20-30 years, doesn't feel that safe.
ETA - Dentist beat me to it.
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James Daulton
Footballguy
There still will be some form of social security. Even if they disband the program, it's not like the government will just keep all the $ we've paid in.
$50k + another $20k in SS won't be terrible.
$50k + another $20k in SS won't be terrible.
Bob Sacamano
Footballguy
gameday
Footballguy
Doesn't using the 4% Safe Withdrawal Rate assume that your assets are appreciating at the same rate as inflation, so that your buying power remains relative?
James Daulton
Footballguy
First of all, the program seems to be a poison pill to any politician. Secondly, even if the government disbanded the program, at the very least, they'd freeze everyone's benefits the day the program ended. Folks would then just get whatever they've paid in over their expected lifespan once retirement age was reached. This is what private pension plans did when they converted from defined benefit to defined contribution plans. The worst aspect (of social security and defined benefit pension plans) from a financial perspective is the ever growing liability you have to carry on your balance sheet.
Sand
Footballguy
The 4% rule came about as a historical study showed that that percentage was the breakpoint at which the money had an extremely good chance to last for 30 years. It assumed historical returns. It also works out very well in Monte Carlo testing.
So there is some pretty good rational reasons why it is espoused. It does work fairly well.
Chemical X
Footballguy
move to Italy, run b & b, drink wine, spend every last euro.
My wife and I are targeting $2MM and it'll likely end up being roughly split between retirement and non-retirement accounts. We have about 6.5 years to go at our current savings rate.
We assumed 3% withdrawal ($60K) each year and 35 years of life after retirement. FireCalc shows zero failures even going out to 45 years of retirement. That doesn't include anything from Social Security or any other income.
moleculo
Footballguy
yeah, every time I crunch the numbers $2M is the nest egg necessary to be comfortable, IMO. We are a long ways from getting there.
Binky The Doormat
Footballguy
This brings up a great part of the discussion - what to do with your money when you retire (whether you hit your goal or not). Its more about generating income and preservation than it is about growth as it was prior. Simply taking the risk of a big hit like in '08 means you are courting disaster to your income plan.
I am still playing around a bit with our mix, but am currently at 30% muni bonds, 20% vanguard bond funds, 35% vanguard admiral fund mix, 12% individual stocks (from a prior advisor-led account), and 3% cash (year's worth of spending). I don't spend much time with it because I have learned my lesson - in order to take the emotion out of it, don't mess with it TOO closely.
Main point - even if you hit your mark, the spending and growth-to-risk plan is another factor that is just as important. Having to worry about it will impact the quality of what you are dreaming about wanting to do.
NewlyRetired
Footballguy
$2m (not including house equity) can have you living very nicely for a long time (assuming you are not very extravagant).
I also feel much safer modelling 3% withdrawal rate than 4%.
Healthcare can be a big issue for early retirees that too many forget about when dreaming about getting out early.
